Fragile
by Professor Mist
Summary: AU. In the heat of battle, your brain can sometimes forget things that you'd very much like to remember. In this case, the Yondaime forgot to tell anyone about his plans. Now after the battle, no one notices a certain blonde disappearing from the forest.
1. Chapter 1

Summary – AU. In the heat of battle, your brain can sometimes forget things that you'd very much like to remember. In this case, the Yondaime forgot to tell anyone about his plans. Now after the battle, no one notices a certain blonde disappearing from the forest.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me.

WARNING: This is an AU piece of fan-fiction meaning that it will not follow, well mostly, not follow canon. This may contain swearing, violent themes, abusive themes and [**maybe]** mature themes. No lemons though cuz I can't make em'. I'm saying this just for the fact of warning you guys, even though some of you may not listen to me.

This is a past-time activity for me, so don't bug me about updates. I'm doing this for my own amusement. This is also my first time writing a piece of fiction so please feel free to point out any mistakes you may find. I'm also open to suggestions, but remember, this is my story so I won't use all of them. Also, if you notice any plot bunnies [(something that contracts with the canon plot) I'd like to follow canon facts as much as I can] feel free to notify me. I'm trying to ensure that no part of the plot seems incomplete or incomprehensive.

Author's Notes: Enjoy

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Urashima Keitaro was very nervous. And who wouldn't be when they were traveling into the area where the Kyuubi was supposedly heading? Looking at the surroundings, it seemed like the Kyuubi really did come through here.

They were walking on a pathway very close to the Kyuubi's wild rampage. The ground was a very blackish color and where there was once grass; there was now only the few ashes of the Kyuubi's rage. The trees all around them were almost all completely burned, and those which weren't only had the trunk left to show that it had been a tree before.

Deep footprints were also deeply engraved onto the land beside which Keitaro was walking on. The craters were at least 4 ft. deep and were chock full of the Kyuubi's dangerous chakra.

The Kyuubi's chakra was also still crawling around in the area beside their walking space, floating around as a light mist in the night sky. It was colored a blood-light red, which almost made it seem innocent, but to the everyday ninja such as Keitaro, it was deadly as Kyuubi itself. That, Keitaro could say from experience.

It had happened about 2 hours ago when they had just started walking on the path to Konoha. Keitaro, not wanting to worry his wife, Naru Narusagewaga, didn't tell her anything about the Kyuubi. She, having no knowledge of ninja affairs as she was a civilian knew only the smallest about the Kyuubi. Even that didn't help her know anything about the Kyuubi.

Anyway, while they had been walking, signs of Kyuubi's rampage had started to show very clearly.

Naru, not knowing why they had been traveling on such a dangerous looking path, had asked, "Err, honey, are you sure we're going the wrong way?" Keitaro in reply, had nodded his head once in a nervous manner. Naru had believed him, of course, but had felt there was something wrong as he had nodded. Why had he been nervous?

Regardless of that, she had still believed him, and she felt fine again, albeit curious; and who wouldn't be? 2 minutes later, that curiosity had caused something which could've utterly destroyed her. They had been walking around the Kyuubi's footprint craters when Naru had suddenly felt the urge to find out what was the red mist inside the craters. She had reached out to feel the red chakra, wanting to know if something strange would happen.

Keitaro, sensing movement to his left, had twisted his head to see what was happening. What he saw could've easily been the production of one of his worst nightmares. Naru had been reaching out to touch the Kyuubi's chakra. His eyes had widened immensely and his jaw had gone slack. His skin had lost all its color.

"NO!" Keitaro had screamed.

Not knowing what would happen if she touched tried to go feel the Kyuubi's chakra, and not wanting to find out, he had reached out as fast he could using his ninja-honed reactions to grab Naru. Although it had been a bit rough, he had successfully pushed Naru back, onto the ground behind him. She had been sitting on her bum, wondering what had just happened. All in all though, she had been safe.

Keitaro, unfortunately, had not been so lucky. He had used a wild way grabbing her and throwing her back which had bended his elbow a bit too much. His elbow had cut right into the edge of the Kyuubi's red chakra.

The fire had started out as a tad bit small, but had then turned into a gigantic flame on his elbow slowly wanting to evolve. Too bad for the flame, Keitaro had not wanted to be burned to death. Quickly, Keitaro had taken the backpack from his back and had taken out a water bottle and had used it on the searing flames to water out the fire.

But, try as he might, the fire wouldn't go out. The pain had started to become unbearable. He had been about to scream. He had to take out the flames of chakra, quick.

Naru, on the sidelines, had watched her husband with horror. Her eyes had been wide, her voice had gone away, and the scream that was about to erupt had been contained. This was her first time witnessing any sort of violence face to face, despite her being a trained civilian medic.

Then—

Keitaro was suddenly interrupted of his reminiscing as he saw something coming up ahead. Squinting, he saw what looked like a… body?

He decided to investigate. He knew that it could be a potential corpse, and seeing the condition his wife was in, he made the decision to go alone.

"Naru-chan, could you stay here for a while? I want to go check something. Just stay here, sit if you want, just don't touch anything, okay?" Naru looked up, terrified at the notion of him leaving. Keitaro looked at her, and with just one look, he could tell that the incident 2 hours ago had done its damage. She was scared to be left alone and she didn't want to risk anything happening to him.

He sighed.

"Naru-chan, come on – please let me go, nothing will happen to me." If Keitaro had tried this – saying this along with his puppy eyes – at any other time, it would've worked. Looking at her now, it seemed as if it didn't work.

He sighed. "I'm going to see a potential corpse. Are you SURE you want to go?" He asked.

Trauma forgotten, she gave him a blank look, then spoke in a low growl, "Keitaro, honey, are you forgetting that I'm a MEDIC! I may've never seen any form of violence face to face, but I sure as hell have seen a CORPSE!"

Boy, when Naru gets underestimated, she gets angry, and when she gets angry, you'd better stay out of her way. No matter what condition she is in, mental or physical.

"Heheh, sorry 'bout that – I forgot." Slowly moving out of the way of Naru's wrath, he started making his way towards the corpse. As he got half way through, he suddenly remembered something.

"Naru, I think we should, ah, switch positions to avoid an accident. I've had a bit more experience and knowledge than you on the, uh, you know, so maybe I should walk to the right…"

Naru was starting to get angry by Keitaro's implications that she couldn't take care of herself when she was suddenly reminded of the red chakra. She didn't want to do this, but it was true, if it had been any indication of how he took care of the flames a few hours back. Keitaro, however, hadn't meant THAT kind of experience. "Fine…"

Phew – I got over that without any serious injuries, Keitaro thought. He had thought that Naru would certainly have inflicted at least some kind of pain for underestimating her two times in a one day. That was like asking to be tortured. It probably would've been better for him to have walked on the right side earlier, before Naru did so, and he had intended to do that, but sometimes he could be a bit absent minded. Forgetting Naru was a medic, was surely one of those moments.

And so they switched positions and continued their walk towards the strange body. It took them about 10 – 15 minutes to reach the body and what they saw didn't surprise them all that much.

The body was in a strange position. His eyes were open staring into the dead night sky, while one arm of his was covering his stomach as if a kunai had stabbed him there. One of his arms was missing from its correct position and was lying right next to him in a bloody mess. His eye was also missing and from his "on the side" position view, they could see that there was a hole in the back of his head, just narrowly missing his brain. Near that hole, they could see a kunai stabbing an eye. They could also confirm he was a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village, Konohagakure by his headband.

He was wearing some light armor on his upper area, knees, and arms. The armor was burnt a bit from what looked like a blast. There was also a mask right beside him on which a cat's face drawn on. A thin ninjato was also at his side, implying that he was a skilled swordsman.

Keitaro looked at the scene and noticed a lot of kunai's. Now, most would suspect this to be a murder – another ninja killing another ninja. But Keitaro knew the truth. There had been rumors that the Kyuubi had been travelling towards Konoha, and most had believed the village to be doomed. Keitaro however, had held hope. He, along with his wife, were in desperate need of cash.

They had been travelling to Konoha for some work as every other village they had been in couldn't afford to hire her as a medic, or him as, well, he'd do anything. Naru had just started her career, while Keitaro had used up all his cash. The villages they had been to so far had been ravaged by the Second Ninja War, and were just recovering.

Naru was simply disgusted by the sight. Sure, she had seen it before, but she just couldn't get over how disgusting it was. "Disgusting. This is why I hate ninjas and will never travel to a ninja village. They kill each other regardless of reason, and worst of all they do it without remorse."

Keitaro could only chuckle nervously. Keitaro had yet to tell Naru of his ninja status AND their current destination. All he had told her was that he knew a village up ahead, near Konoha, which had some available, good-paying jobs. Never had he told her that it was Konoha they were travelling to, in fear of the wrath, and maybe betrayal he might face.

Shaking his head, he cleared his head of those thoughts, at least for now that is. Walking over to the man, he kneeled over him in a crouched position and was about to close the man's only open eye when suddenly the man's arm jerked, as if to knock away Keitaro's hand away from his body.

Both Keitaro's and Naru's eyes had widened. Keitaro quickly brought his index finger and middle finger towards the man's neck; to see if he had a pulse. At first he didn't feel anything, but after a few moments, there was surely a pulse. A very weak pulse, but a pulse nonetheless.

"He's got a pulse!"

Working quickly, Naru took out her medical kit and started to work on the patient at hand. She had first checked what to actually fix with the patient, and boy was there a lot. So, after a sigh and disgusted grunt at what she supposed had happened to him, she started to work on treating his injuries. It took maybe twenty minutes to get him back into a stabilized condition, but he still needed a bit more medical treatment from the hospital to make sure he was alive.

Keitaro, in that whole process, had been passing tools to her as she worked. In his mind, he had been contemplating whether to go on further and risk their lives. He was now completely positive that the Konoha shinboi and the Kyuubi had or were having a battle, meaning that if they went any further, they were most likely asking for certain death. But if they turned around and went back, this man might not survive. They also had a chance of running into those Kiri Hunter-nins.

With a stern look, he decided on what he had to do…

"I think we should go b-back, Naru." He was still a bit frightened at the prospect of going back at the chance of encountering Kiri's Hunter-nin. Near the end of that speech his expression had changed to one of nervousness.

"What? Why? We're so close!" she asked with confusion laced within her voice.

"Well, actually, I think that we could die if we go any further. This man would also probably have a better chance of surviving if we go back." As always, Keitaro was beating around the bush.

She gave him her famous blank look and asked again, "Keitaro, stop beating around the bush and tell me already WHAT IS SO DANGEROUS THAT WE HAVE TO TURN BACK!"

And as of routine, here comes Keitaro's sheepish laugh, that signaled he was about to tell her, "Hehehe, well…you'll never believe it, but I think the K-Kyuubi is up ahead."

For the first two seconds Naru was taken into , before she realized what he was talking about. She had heard about it in the last town, and was pretty sure Keitaro had heard about it as well. It had been the talk of the town as the Kyuubi had just barely skimmed past it. That skim was about 100 kilometers. She had thought that he would go in the OPPOSITE direction of the Kyuubi, not the same way. That was why she had trusted him. She never thought he could've foolishly endangered them like this.

Now you might be wondering why Naru hadn't noticed the Kyuubi's chakra. Well, in truth, she didn't know it was the Kyuubi's chakra. All she knew was that the Kyuubi was a huge nine-tailed beast capable of destroying anything. She didn't suspect all the damage because she had lived in the previous town her whole 24 years of life. She hadn't had much outdoor experience except for visiting neighboring towns, and one of those towns had been annihilated by a ninja battle.

That was also another reason as to why Naru hated ninjas. But that was another story for another time.

"Now, Naru, we can handle this in a humane fashion, can't we?" Keitaro asked while kneeling with his hands in front of him as a sign of repentance towards Naru, who was moving towards him in a slow subdued walk. He was dead. At least when Naru was angry at him she screamed and lunged at him, which mostly resulted in a sky-rocketing punch. But today, she was walking slowly, a bad sign for poor Keitaro.

"AHHH! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I ONLY THOUGHT OF WHAT WAS BEST! PLEASE NARU, I WANT TO LIVE!" He was sobbing uncontrollably. Naru just continued her walk.

Keitaro prepared for his death as Naru was only steps away from him. But he never finished preparing as he heard what sounded eerily familiar to a child's horrible crying. But no matter how horrible it was, he thanked Kami for it as it had saved his life.

Naru's motherly instincts immediately activated and traced the wails, of what seemed like hunger to Naru, back to its original source. Keitaro followed her, but stayed out of sight in fear she might focus on him again. She kept on walking for about 4 seconds away from the body, when she found the source of the wails.

It was a small newborn child, who seemed to be wrapped in a blanket covering his body showing how it might've survived from the cold. The male or female child had wild blonde hair and had blue eyes. He had three set of whiskers on his cheek for some strange reason and was wailing uncontrollably.

Naru quickly ran over to him and picked him up. She held him close to her to transfer some body heat as even with the blanket, the baby was still quite cold. When she first held him close she thought she felt something inside the blanket, but soon let it go. But wanting to know if it was there she opened a tiny bit of the blanket and saw a piece of paper on which she thought was his name.

_Uzumaki Naruto_

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The shinobi of Konoha were celebrating. Well, some were. Others were mourning the death of their loved ones. Those celebrating were overjoyed because of the defeat of the Kyuubi. Well, somewhat. They were mostly just happy that the Kyuubi had been pushed back and they, along with their loved one inside the village, were alive and safe.

While almost all of them were celebrating or mourning, one masked, white-haired boy was looking at the battlefield in which the Kyuubi had resided in only moments ago. He was looking for his master, the Yondaime Hokage, wondering if he was alright. He was also wondering how in the seven Hells was the Kyuubi, strongest of all the demons in the world, driven back and frightened away.

This boy was one whose mind was made on the fundamentals of pure hard logic, showing why he though those thoughts. His name was Hatake Kakashi, one of Konoha's youngest Jounin, only non-uchia to posses a sharingan, and he was the only son of the late Hatake Sakumo. He was well known in the ninja world as "Copycat Kakashi" for his knowledge of over 1000 jutsus. Right now, he wasn't any of those things. Right now, he was just a small boy worried for his sensei.

"Sensei?" His voice drifted into the air as nothing but a small whisper.

He was confused. Could his sensei be dead? The Kyuubi was the strongest of any demon known to this world; it would've cost him his life to drive the Kyuubi away. But another part of his mind, one very new to this world, didn't believe that. His sensei was strong! He defeated a whole army in seconds. The Kyuubi annihilated almost all of Konoha within milliseconds. In reality, it wasn't a hard argument. But to Kakashi, it was very difficult.

Suddenly a rough cough interrupted his deep argument. He looked around, wondering where it came from. He had to turn around completely, away from the mourning, or celebrations, to see what it was. What he saw was something that caused his eyes to widen beyond his imagination.

He saw the Yondaime.

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Author's Notes: Eh, I decided it was a bit small so I added a few more things in concerning the attack. As you can see, I'm not keeping it [the Kyuubi's attack] as much of a secret as I'd have wanted it to be, but it's all good. Please leave a review as I'd like to see what I could do better. By the way, Urashima Keitaro and Naru, are from the anime series Love Hina; I couldn't think of any good OC's names so I just decided to go with that. I think it was Artful Lounger (sp?) who first did this, not sure though.

Also, I'm just ignoring the current manga as of this moment. I just didn't feel that the "Kushina was a Jinchuuriki" was realistic enough for me, so I am going with the usual, overused bit where Kushina dies in child birth. Hope that doesn't bother you. By the way, I realize that this is going against what I said earlier in the chapter, but I still stand by this decision of mine.

Please Note; this chapter has yet to be proofread.

Review!


	2. Chapter 2 Preview

Author's Note: I know I haven't updated in a while, but here's a preview for the next chapter which should be coming soon. Enjoy.

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Fragile by Professor Mist

Chapter 2 Preview

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Hokage's Tower

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"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious! This is a complete and utter waste of our forces which could be used to rebuild Konoha!" argued Homura, an advisor to the Hokage since the Sandaime.

"I am, and I will Homura-_san_, whether you agree with me or not, I AM THE HOKAGE, and my word goes!" thundered the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato, blue eyes flashing dangerously.

Danzo, Koharu, and Homura could only tremble slightly in fear of the killing intent the Yondaime Hokage was releasing, it was as if the Kyuubi was right upon them.

"H-hai H-hokage-sama," they began, "as you command."

It was the second week after the Kyuubi attack and the villagers and shinobi were all well underway to repairing their marvelous city to its origina- no wait, to a state better than what it was before. The Hokage had only woken up about two hours earlier and was immediately establishing control of the situation.

He was trying to find someone, and was willing to use any amount of his shinobi forces to do so. He was looking for a specific ANBU, one with a cat's mask who had gone missing during the Kyuubi attack. The ANBU, however, was MIA and nobody had seen the body, though the mask had turned up. Thus the Hokage's advisors were trying to persuade their leader to not misuse so much of their shinobi force for a one mere ANBU.

"Good," the Hokage stated firmly, satisfied, "send out a messenger bird to all … Chuunin Level Shinobi and higher for a meeting in two hours. That includes ANBU and all clan heads." He finished before disappearing in a yellow flash, leaving the advisors in a state of petrifaction.

"T-that was terrifying," breathed Koharu, the only female advisor to the Hokage.

"I a-agree, what has gotten into him?" questioned Homura, a slight tremble still visible on his old body.

"I don't know," Danzo began, not willing to show how shaken up he was, "but I will find out why he wants this ANBU so much, no matter what happens. " He muttered, standing up and using his cane, began walking out of the room, the other two following right behind him.

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Author's Note: This is a preview of the next chapter, so stay tuned for the full version when I release it soon, _probably_ in a week or so (yes, I'm a slow writer.).


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